Finish 'er Up Friday...My journal is FULL!

Unfinished Project:  Book of Days 2013, Session 2
Finished this week:  One Lesson - Front Facing Portraits
Still to go: Six Lessons (out of 36 total)

Here's how it turned out...

(background: vintage wallpaper & giftwrap, handmade paper and vintage text; gesso, adirondack spray ink, golden fluid acrylic. Portrait: pencil, acrylic paint, neocolor II crayons, neon oil pastel, pitt pen)

An extra-exciting thing about this spread: It was the very last page in my big canvas art journal! Another thing finished - yeayyy!  Here's how it looks - all ready to go on the bookshelf...

 The pages are 9x12, and are made out of 140 lb Stonehenge paper in 4 colors - white, black, kraft and grey.  There are 200 pages total (50 spreads).

 I learned how to make this style of journal in Effy Wild's free bookbinding class.  It was easy!

 That's Johnny modeling with the book...

Next time I will share the new journal I'm starting.  It's not new, actually - I'm finishing one that I started a few years ago.  Can't wait to share!

Thanks so much for visiting! I really appreciate it!  Have a great weekend!

Planner Journal Week Eight...

Hi friends, how's it going?

I'm excited to share week eight (Feb. 17 - 23) in my planner with you today!

In the No Excuses journaling method, it is suggested that you do a tiny watercolor sketch each week.  This month, I chose to do one big one instead...
 

 (gelatos, watercolor, pitt pen)

 The Documented Life Project challenge was to add a flap to your flap, so I added a tiny flap to my bird page...

here's the front of the flap...

 

 and when you flip it up it looks like this...

 

...then, when you open the bird sketch flap, you can see my tribute to my chosen artist of the month - Jean Michel Basquiat...

 He wasn't the actual No Excuses artist of the month, but I really wanted to learn about him, so I substituted him in.  I'm so glad I did - it was really an interesting experience!


and here is how the week 8 planner page looks all finished...

(Tombow markers, sakura moonlight gel pens, pitt pens, stickers, rubber stamps.  Photo in the middle is of Basquiat with Andy Warhol)

Combining it all in one planner - Weeks Six and Seven...

Hi friends!  I'm so excited to share the progress I've been making in my planner journal with you!  I've been busily combining a number of projects and challenges, which is making it tons of fun!  Here's how it's coming along...
(remember you can click on any of the images to see them larger)

WEEK SIX:
The challenge at the Documented Life Project, was to be inspired by something on pinterest.  I chose one of my very fave art journalers, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer!  I followed along with this amaaazing video, and here's what I came up with...

 (gesso, dylusions spray ink, acrylic paint, stencils, washi tape, collaged text paper, rubber and foam stamps, paint pens, pitt pens and pilot permaball pen)

Next is the One Little Word page that I shared in this post, and on the right is the first challenge in the Words of Me Project...

 (daily ritual page:  collaged text and gelli printed deli papers, gesso, black sakura glaze pen, paint pens)

...when you open it up, you can see my journaling about the No Excuses topic for February - Sacred Space (the photo is of Jean Michel Basquiat in his studio).  The right side is cut from a magazine...

WEEK SEVEN:
The Documented Life Project Challenge was to pick a shape and repeat it.  I picked hearts for valentines day, and made my tip in short, so you could see the inside page peeking out...

 (background on the planner page (left side) created with gesso and spray ink)

...and the second challenge in the Words of Me project was to create your own mission statement.  I used the free Franklin Covey Mission Statement Builder, and then tweaked it a bit.  You can see it in the middle when you open the hearts flap...

Thursday I will be back to share the pages from Week Eight.

 I hope it's helpful for you to see these pages!  It's a lot of fun to share them!

Resource Links...
The Documented Life Project
No More Excuses Journaling
The Words of Me Project


Thanks so much for visiting me here today!  I really appreciate you!  Have a great rest of the week my friends!!!

One Little Word - Calm...

 Edited to add:  The One Little Word Challenge is on hold right now.  I will let you know as soon as it is back in business!  :)

It's the 15th of the month and that means.....

It's time for the new challenge over at the One Little Word blog!  The word for this month is "calm." 

In this hectic world, we all need a little calm in our life - I know I do!  Here's my page...

 

(Color Shine Ink Sprays, Acrylic Paint, Signo Uniball White Pen, Black S Point Pitt Pen)

Here are a few process photos...

Title painted onto watercolor paper with Pebeo Drawing gum...

Here's a detail shot so you can see the dimension of this stuff.  It goes on in liquid form, and dries to a rubbery finish to create a resist.  Fun stuff!

Then I added some layers with spray inks, masks and acrylic paint.  At the end is the magically fun part!  You get to rub off the drawing gum and see your title appear...

 Here's a pic of the title partly rubbed off.  It creates an amazingly clean resist!

the last step is to add the doodles.  Here's the finished page one more time...

What do you think of when you hear the word calm?  What makes you feel calm?  What colors inspire calm for you?  Come on over and play along with us! We'd love to have some new participants, and it's lots of fun!  Click here to go to the challenge blog.  See you there!

Finish 'er Up Friday: Check her out!

Hey there everyone!  I was thinking I wouldn't have anything to talk about today, because I didn't work at all on finishing old projects this week.  Some weeks are just like that I guess, and that's okay.  I will get back on the bus next week.

But, I am excited to say that a friend of mine did GREAT this week on getting caught up with her Project Life!  Check out Dawn's awesome post by clicking here.

Congrats Dawn on your awesome work!

I will be back tomorrow with the new One Little Word challenge!  See you then!

Project Life: Week 5...

Here's Week 5 in my Project Life Album...

I tried putting some of the thicker embellishments on the outside of the pockets this week, and I like how it turned out, especially where it ties two pockets together.

It was a quiet week at home.  This winter is so severe that going out is to be avoided if at all possible - ha...

It was gloomy all week too, which made it hard to get good photos, so I apologize for that...

 

 This week took up 3 pages - the spread you see above, and then this extra page...

If you are doing Project Life - how is it going?

Finish 'er Up Friday: Embracing All of You...

The page I finished this week is a Life Book Lesson I started way back in August of last year.  This is how far I got back then...
 

It sat, just like that in my journal, until this past week when I decided to work on it again.  I know I always say this, but - It was SO MUCH FUN!  

It's a lesson by Tam LaPorte called "Embracing All of You,"  and here is how it turned out...

The waves contain some of my personality traits that I love and some that I'm not as fond of (lol), and the sail holds some of my hopes and dreams.  This is done with layers and layers of acrylic paint, gesso, spray inks, neocolor II crayons, paint markers and various papers.

How are you doing this week?  Did you work on any unfinished projects?  Link us up if you did, so we can encourage each other!

Thanks so much for visiting!  I really appreciate it!  See you again soon!

Documented Life/No Excuses Update - On Making it your own...

I've got a big catch up post for my Planner Journal today.  I've been busy working in it every day and really having a ball blending the Documented Life Project and the No Excuses workshop together to make my own unique journal.  Here are my latest pages....

The No Excuses theme for January was "Discovery."  Here I explored the subject with a quote page and some free-writing...

The Documented Life Challenge for Week 3 was to use an envelope.  Here's what I did with it...

 I had an extra ink-blot butterfly leftover from the Life Book Lesson that I shared in my last "finish 'er up Friday" post, so I pasted it in here, along with a quote by Kurt Vonnegut...

 

The week four Documented Life Challenge was to write a secret message, and then cover up all but one word.  I left one phrase viewable...

  

 When you open up the tip in on that page, you can see the Life Book Graphite Feather Lesson (which I also shared in my last Finish 'er Up Friday post).  Also, the page I did on the January No Excuses Artist of the month - Frank Lloyd Wright...

 

here's the same page with the tag opened...

this is what's on the back of the tag...

and moving on to February...
On the right is my collaged envelope for the month.  The theme is "Sacred Spaces," and I decided to choose my own artist of the month this time - Jean Michel Basquiat...

When you flip over the envelope you can see the Week Five Documented Life challenge which was to doodle a border.  I was inspired by this border on pinterest.  It was a challenging doodle!  And then there's my monthly goals mindmap...

My goodness, that was a lot!  I hope it is helpful (and not overwhelming) to see all this!

If you want more info on the Documented Life Project, click here;
and for more info on the No Excuses Workshop, click here.

Thanks so much for visiting my friends!

I will leave you with this little song that still runs through my mind from time to time.  You will probably recognize it if you ever watched the Donny and Marie show...

Farewell to Archiver's...

Yesterday was my last crop at Archiver's with the girls.  If you haven't heard -  Archiver's, (a nationwide chain of Scrapbooking stores), is going out of business.  Their doors will close for good this month.

Here are a few pics from our day...

 

With everything being 50% off, I had to make a few purchases...

Back in 2006, I worked at Archiver's part-time.  At that time, I remember hearing that there was one new location opening per month.  It's so sad to see it all end.  I feel bad for the workers, and it makes me wonder what is happening to scrapbooking as a whole, if a place like Archiver's can't make it?

There is some good news, however!  October Afternoon, which is based in Apple Valley, Minnesota, is opening a Scrapbooking store in their warehouse at the end of this month.  It's called Paper Made.  Watch for their website to go live sometime this week.  Click here to check that out.

As for my girlfriends and I, we are committed to continuing our monthly meetups.  We are just going to have to get creative about where we go and how we manage it.  I'm looking forward to the next leg of our journey together, wherever it may take us!

Thanks so much for visiting today, my friends!  I will see you again soon!

P.S.  In my recent Book of Days post, Linda had asked me to share the supplies I used.  I have added those to the original post for you Linda! and for anyone else who is interested!  Click here to go to that post and check it out